Chapter 39: Four Hundred Catties of Grain

The moment he stepped out of the Zeng family residence, Su Yanwen broke into a run.

Did it matter if the grain inside the bamboo poles spilled out?
Not at all.

Gathering his breath, he took a shortcut through the least populated area and ran towards the mountain.

At the foot of the mountain, someone had been waiting for a long time.

Big Lang was pushing a wheelbarrow loaded with four bulging large sacks.
He was sweating even more than Su Yanwen.

It was hard to tell whether his hair and clothes were soaked with sweat or melted snow.

Seeing Su Yanwen approach, he grew even more restless, not daring to make the slightest sound as he frantically waved his hands.

"Let's go, up the mountain first."

In Su Yanwen's view, the most dangerous place was the safest place.

The village was crowded with people and full of gossip, and there was no telling what kind of trouble might brew, but the mountain was different.
Animals didn't gossip.

Snow was falling from the sky, making the mountain paths even more treacherous to navigate.
Fortunately, Su Yanwen was familiar with the terrain, and the two did not stop to catch their breath until they reached an uninhabited restricted zone.

"Haha... Hahaha..."
Su Yanwen finally relaxed and burst into hearty laughter.

Big Lang didn't dare to laugh at all; he was practically on the verge of tears. "Good heavens, you told me to bring burlap sacks to provide backup, and this is what you meant by backup!"
"The moment I saw the grain pouring out, I thought I was going to die of fright."
"And I never expected there would be this much."
"Wait, is the village chief's family really that foolish, just letting people openly hoard grain inside like that?"

Su Yanwen's laughter subsided.
He waved his hand and tapped his head.

Seeing Big Lang's bewildered expression, he couldn't be bothered to explain and simply instructed, "Just act like you know nothing about anything that happened today."
"These grains have nothing to do with you whatsoever. You know absolutely nothing, understand?"

Big Lang nodded his head like a chick pecking at rice.

The fact that his entire family had not suffered any deaths recently was entirely thanks to Su Yanwen.
There was a time when the mere mention of Su Yanwen would cause Aunt Zhang to curse him at home until dark.
Now, at just a single word from Su Yanwen, Aunt Zhang would grab a feathered duster and urge Big Lang to go take care of it immediately.

Regardless of what his reputation used to be like, at least he wouldn't let Zhao Yue'e and Cao'er freeze or starve to death.
He was even the one who provided salt and meat whenever they needed it.

"I didn't know what kind of situation you were in, but the moment you pulled the bamboo pole back, I immediately plugged the hole with mud."
"Don't worry, a few grains spilled on the ground, but even lazy mice will just dig tunnels along the loosened spots."
"Once tonight passes, it will just look like a mouse hole."

After thinking for a moment, Big Lang decided to confess what he had done.

"Good job," Su Yanwen nodded.
It seemed Big Lang wasn't completely a fool.

Four hundred catties of grain—Su Yanwen watched the path while steadying the sacks.
Big Lang pushed the cart, treading with extreme caution.

Fortunately, having made this trip many times recently, they had lost their previous fear, and their pace was much faster now.

"Daddy!"

Cao'er sat by the doorway every day, doing odd chores while waiting for Su Yanwen to return.
Hearing the commotion, she looked up and shouted.

Seeing a head pop out from behind the large sacks, she cried out even more excitedly, "It's Big Uncle!"
"Big Uncle, come on inside and sit down."
"Our house is so warm."
"Warmer even than Grandma's fireplace."

Of course Big Lang knew that.
After all, he had designed this house himself, and the firewood on the mountain was inexhaustible.
With a chimney, they didn't have to worry about the room filling with smoke; the fireplace could not only provide warmth and cook meals, but it also ensured a constant supply of hot water.
If firewood hadn't been so precious in the village, he would have done the exact same thing.

"What is this?"
After greeting them, Cao'er looked curiously at the wheelbarrow and reached out her little hand to pat one of the sacks.

"Cao'er, come here."
Su Yanwen beckoned, took a small handful of sorghum from a sack, and placed it in Cao'er's palm.

Cao'er's eyes widened instantly, and she spun around and dashed into the house.
Running as she went, she shouted, "Mommy, Mommy, look! Daddy brought grain back!"

Zhao Yue'e quickly ran out.
She had expected to catch a glimpse of a small pouch of grain, but she never imagined she would see so much of it—so tall, so huge...

"Is... is this all grain inside?"
Zhao Yue'e had practically lost her tongue.

"It's all grain! Th-that must be at least a hundred catties, right?"
After all, whenever harvest season arrived in their village, all their grain went toward paying off the village chief's debts, and the amount they finally got to bring home was only a few dozen catties.

"What kind of estimate is that? It's at least four hundred catties!"
Su Yanwen said with a smile, "And it's all sorghum, corn, and wheat."

Zhao Yue'e didn't speak.
She maintained that expression of utter astonishment.
Suddenly, she drew in a sharp breath and fell straight backward.

"Yue'e!" Big Lang cried out.
Su Yanwen was even faster; the instant she began to fall, he reached out and caught her in his arms.

Fortunately, it was just a temporary loss of breath from overwhelming excitement.
After catching her breath, Zhao Yue'e's tears instantly welled up.
Her voice choked as she said, "Four hundred catties!"
"We don't even see this much grain in an entire year."

Su Yanwen couldn't quite manage a smile anymore.
He said with a straight face, "What is four hundred catties? In my plan, this grain is merely a seed, and I am going to make this seed take root and sprout."
"Remember, one day, grain of this caliber will only be fit for feeding chickens and ducks..."

Such remarks left everyone frozen in place.
Su Yanwen had never been one to bother with explanations.
He hoisted the grain sacks onto his shoulder, carried them into the small wooden cabin, and stacked them in a corner.

"Yue'e, has Big Brother Su actually lost his mind?" Big Lang's gaze was filled with sympathy.
No matter how brilliantly Su Yanwen performed nowadays, how could he possibly have conceived of something even the village chief's family wouldn't dare to do?

Zhao Yue'e swallowed hard.
Although she knew full well that this matter was pure daydreaming, the person saying it was Su Yanwen—that extraordinary, one-of-a-kind presence.
Perhaps such things really could happen with him.

"I'll go help."
Big Lang didn't dwell too much on the question; he walked over, shouldered a burlap sack, and carried it into the cabin.

Although they only occupied a corner of the small cabin, with all four sacks placed there, Su Yanwen's family would now have to curl up tightly just to sleep.

"It's fine. In a couple of days when the snow stops, we can continue building the house."
"By then we'll build three large wooden cabins, which will be more than enough space," Big Lang said with a beaming smile.
Before getting his hands on the grain, he wouldn't have dared to utter those words.
After all, feeding fifteen people was no small feat.
But now, with four hundred catties of grain sitting right there, what was there to fear?

During the moving process, Zhao Yue'e had already learned from Su Yanwen how the grain had been obtained.
She shook her head repeatedly. "No, we cannot touch this grain right now."
"If word gets back to the village, it will be catastrophic."
"There might be meat and wild vegetables on the mountain, but there shouldn't be grain."

"Simple," Su Yanwen smiled. "Here is half a catty of grain."
"Big Lang, take a catty of grain back with you, and take a fish as well."
"Be careful when you eat the grain."

Big Lang nodded repeatedly. "I understand, I understand."
"Cao'er, listen carefully. From now on, no one except the three of you is allowed to enter this cabin."

Although it sounded like he was instructing Cao'er, the words were actually a reminder for Su Yanwen as well.
Su Yanwen nodded in gratitude.

The day was growing late, and Big Lang still had to head down the mountain before dark.

That night, Cao'er drifted off to sleep.
After hesitating for a long time, Zhao Yue'e finally asked Su Yanwen, "Now that we have this much grain, plus the game you can bring back whenever you want, we can easily make it through this winter."
"Otherwise... let's not take any more risks."
She longed for a bit of peace; even without grand houses and mountains of grain, she would have been content.

"Tomorrow I'll bring back more fern roots. We need to use a large quantity of fern roots to fill the stomachs of the people building the house."
"What?" Zhao Yue'e was startled.

"You silly goose!" Su Yanwen laughed. "The good things naturally have to be kept for ourselves to eat, right?"
"Alright, go to sleep. Take good care of our daughter, and leave everything else to me."

The Su Yanwen of today truly gave people a sense of absolute stability and peace of mind.
Looking at the man before her, Zhao Yue'e wore a smile on her lips. After a moment of hesitation, she slowly unbuttoned her clothes.
Then she said, "Let's sleep together. It'll be warmer."

Having meat at every meal recently, eating plenty of wild berries, and keeping up with the warmth measures meant she had suffered no chapping or frostbite.
Her once-slender frame had filled out with some meat, and her skin had naturally become smooth and glowing.
Zhao Yue'e had always possessed good looks.
With this recent period of nourishment, she looked so breathtakingly lovely it made one's heart skip a beat.

"Hehe, aren't I just full of fortune!" Su Yanwen rubbed his head with a chuckle as he snuggled into Zhao Yue'e's arms.
Warm... it was so wonderfully warm!

A new day dawned, and the snowfall had lessened considerably.
Whenever the snow season arrived, after two or three consecutive days of snowfall, there would generally be a few clear days.

Su Yanwen stood at the entrance of the village with a bamboo pole in hand.
He held a fern root up and announced loudly, "Buying in large quantities!"
"Ten catties of fern roots for one tael of grain."

Ten catties of fern roots could make two catties of fern root starch, yet he was only giving out one tael of grain.
Two catties of fern root starch could produce roughly seven catties of fern root noodles.
One tael of grain wasn't much at all, and digging up this stuff was physically exhausting work!

"Isn't that just wild grass?"
"Yeah, and it tastes awful."
"I heard yesterday that Old Su got thrown out of the Zeng family residence."
"What are you talking about? I heard that idiot Su traded two big hares and two big fish to the Zeng family for just three catties of grain."
"What a complete fool! All that stuff could easily have fetched at least a thousand cash in town!"
"I heard he originally wanted a full tael of silver, which is three thousand wen—the guy's completely out of his mind."
"No kidding. And now the lunatic is trading grain for weed roots. He's crazy, completely insane."
"Well, never mind whether he's crazy or not, as long as we can get grain for it. Come on, let's go dig some up."